28 Jan
The heavy rainfall following cyclone Oswald which has caused widespread flooding in Queensland is forecast to hit Sydney on Monday as long-weekend holidaymakers return to the city.

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Its bit overcast here but no rain this morning.

Commenter

Barnesm

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 6:44AM

Thankyou Brisbane Times for your fantastic coverage. Been up watching your page since 4am. thankyou

Commenter

jomb

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 6:32AM

When will the wind stop?? Must be losing trees all over! heard a few cracks. Bring on daylight.

Commenter

Stepkatt

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 5:46AM

Gotten a lot louder in Camp Hill not long ago, rain coming in sideways, not worried about flooding here, but that wind has me worried !!

Commenter

St3v3S

Location

Camp Hill

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 2:18AM

Not sure what just happened at Murarrie - it's been extremely windy all evening, but just now it sounded like a jumbo jet roared over the suburb, followed by an almighty crash of heet metal somewere. I guess someone lost thre roof. THe creeks are rising extremely fast here too on Rawlinson Street & Wynnum ROad.

Commenter

ralliart

Location

Murarrie

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 1:56AM

Simon, to me that sounds like a piece of metal, like a sign or something, flapping in the wind.

Commenter

lou

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 1:02AM

The winds at Moggill have been steadily getting worse over the last few hours. I'm almost dreading what will greet us in the morning.

Commenter

Heididdly

Location

Moggill

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 12:54AM

Also, poor garbage collectors (you had to stop yourself, didnt you Simon?!), half the bins are going to be tipped over, the other half nowhere to be found......

Commenter

Mtba

Location

Mt Crosby

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:58PM

Stop myself? Not sure what you mean ;-)

Commenter

Simon Holt

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 12:19AM

Its howling here in mt Crosby still! I thought it might have settled down a bit by now! The rain is lashing the windows and I want to go to sleep now the tennis is over but concern keeping me up.

Commenter

Mtba

Location

Mt Crosby

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:54PM

re: @SimonHilt 9.48pm - I can tell you the rain (and certainly the wind) is not yet easing in the northern suburbs of Brisbane. The wind is stronger now than it has been all day and rain is still very strong!

Commenter

atombomb

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:20PM

Many thanks @atombomb ... we're getting weather reports through, but we're keen to hear updates from the likes of yourself on the ground. Keem 'em coming!

Commenter

Simon Holt

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:29PM

Laidley High School Evacuation.....­........... there is a 6 moth old baby there needing formula ... IF YOU SEE THIS MESSAGE PLEASE SHARE it till ppl at the school see this to be able to help.. or can take some to the school,, there is a cafeteria there you could drop it at, and some1 there can make an announcement for the parents of this 6 month old,,, PLEASE SHARE!!!!!

Commenter

LisaT

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:15PM

Why does it seem i am the only one who can see that releasing water should have been done over a week ago when we first heard about the storm coming.It is a repeat of 2011,the dams are releasing water and raising the levels in the Bremer and Brisbane river so of course it will flood,rain has stopped in the catchment areas so why keep releasing water.I regularly ski at Somerset and they can hold much more than they already had.It doesnt take a genuis to realise if it is raining and creeks are flooding then STOP realeasing more water into the rivers,SEQ Water is flooding the Brisbane river,not the storm.why were the dams so full anyway,they should be at less capacity ready for this type of downpour,nothing has been learnt from 2011 mistakes.

Commenter

reggie

Location

calamvale

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 10:39PM

SEQ Water aren't the ones that are releasing the water - the dam controllers are acting on orders from the Premier not from SEQ water.

Why did the Premier order the release of water - to reassure people that everything was under control, and to reduce the risk of flooding in the river.

Commenter

Mark

Location

Gold Coast

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:14PM

Reggie, the river levels in the upper Brisbane River (above the dams) are nowhere near as high as they were leading up to the 2011 floods. As the system moves south, there is little chance of the situation in Somerset and Wivenhoe deteriorating to anything like Jan 2011. Yet Newman has directed SEQwater to open the gates, which to mere mortals like you and I would appear to risk contributing to the probability of flooding in low-lying suburbs in Ipswich & Brisbane. To folk who are concerned about their properties being flooded, it's OK because Quirk, standing beside nodding Newman, assured us on the news tonight that it wouldn't be water released from Wivenhoe that would cause flooding, it would be the other water flowing down the river. The latest reading on Wivenhoe is 88.2%, meaning there is about 112% available for flood mitigation, yet Newman who has assumed power to override the judgement of professional dam managers, would seem to be contributing in a "major" way to the imminent flooding of parts of Brisbane when there is a massive capacity for flood mitigation not being put to use. Once the rain eases on Monday, sure, manage some releases over the next week or three to bring the level back down to 100%, once the King tides are gone and once Laidley Creek and the smaller creeks in suburban Brisbane are back down. It would look very un-majorly to change one's mind and let the real engineers do what they are trained to do, but it seems like it would be a good time to shut the Wivenhoe flood gates and avert or limit flooding instead of causing it.

Commenter

Jonesie

Location

Deep North

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 12:06AM

Reggie, the river levels in the upper Brisbane River (above the dams) are nowhere near as high as they were leading up to the 2011 floods. As the system moves south, there is little chance of the situation in Somerset and Wivenhoe deteriorating to anything like Jan 2011. Yet Newman has directed SEQwater to open the gates (and to keep them open), which to mere mortals like you and I would appear to risk contributing to the probability of flooding in low-lying suburbs in Ipswich & Brisbane. To folk who are concerned about their properties being flooded, it's OK because Quirk, standing beside nodding Newman, assured us on the news tonight that it wouldn't be water released from Wivenhoe that would cause flooding, it would be the other water flowing down the river. The latest reading on Wivenhoe is 88.2%, meaning there is about 112% available for flood mitigation, yet Newman who has assumed power to override the judgement of professional dam managers, would seem to be contributing in a "major" way to the imminent flooding of parts of Brisbane when there is a massive capacity for flood mitigation not being put to use. Once the rain eases on Monday, sure, manage some releases over the next week or three to bring the level back down to 100%, once the King tides are gone and once Laidley & Lockyer Creeks and the smaller creeks in suburban Brisbane are back down. It would look very un-majorly to change one's mind and let the real engineers do what they are trained to do, but it seems like it would be a good time to shut the Wivenhoe flood gates and avert or limit flooding instead of causing it.

Commenter

Jonesie

Location

Deep North

Date and time

January 28, 2013, 12:39AM

Fantastic work guys on covering the storms. A lot of debris on the road earlier today but what amazed me was the number of motorists not using their headlights in the rain. What is wrong with people?

Commenter

mattyref

Location

Albany Creek

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 10:17PM

Wondering how full Wivenhoe is - since the Government has been releasing water from it to prevent flooding in the Brisbane river, I guess it must be almost at full flood capacity by now.

Or was SEQ water right, in saying there was no need to release water for this rain event?

Commenter

Mark

Location

Gold Coast

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 10:16PM

Ive wondered the same,all they are doing is sending more water down the Brisbane river like they did last year & combining it with the rainfall to flood everyone again.

Commenter

reggie

Location

calamvale

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 10:43PM

This is a very good question and one I am surprised the press has not asked of Newman yet. If property is damaged as a result of excess water in the Brisbane or Bremer river Newman's position as premier is no longer tenable. If some one is, God forbid, killed, as a result of excess water in the Brisbane or Bremer Newman should have to answer for his actions in the coroners court.

Commenter

Chesty LaRue

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:05PM

Ever notice that the Brisbane Mt Stapylton weather radar always fails when a weather event occurs?Marburg doesn't cover the Gold Coast very well so we are in the dark.

Commenter

steveni

Location

Gold Coast

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 9:37PM

Want to know when we started to have tornados in Australia. Never heard that term used here before

Commenter

tomsla

Location

Haawthorne

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 8:38PM

I suggest you look up the following page. We get on average 16 tornadoes a year. But nothing to the extent they can get them in the USA, which is why they probably go unreported. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/06/04/2918660.htm

Commenter

Jane

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 9:01PM

Growing up in Bundaberg in the 80's there were regular "storms", which although not called tornadoes at the time, would go down just one street, and cause a significant amount of damage. So, I guess from my recollection, we've had tornadoes in Australia for at least the last 30 years - if not longer.

Commenter

Mark

Location

Gold Coast

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 10:14PM

Oh dear. As any trained meteorologist will tell you, all continents except Antarctica get tornadoes. There is nothing "American" about them as some people seem to think. And these days with Google, frankly there is no excuse for such ignorance. Australia gets about 16 *reported* tornadoes per year, but many more actually occur but go unreported due to our sparse population.

Commenter

Anthony C

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 11:47PM

We've heard from most other councils that are to be affected by flooding, but as usual Logan Council have been very quite. What is happening in our area especially around Cornubia and Carbrook

Commenter

Cookie57

Location

Logan

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 7:48PM

Actually reason I'm on this site is my elderly Auntie lives in Eagleby. can't get through on the Phone, so I presume power out, did google the Logan Shire and they do have sandbags and enough for 5,000 available till 9pm.cheers.

Commenter

Wet, wet, wet

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 8:28PM

BTW Great to see the BTs doing such important, live and informative coverage.Well done.

Commenter

Wet, wet, wet

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 6:31PM

Hope you've got enough emergency workers still employed to cope?Maybe they can get an insurance asserts job.Will Cando cope?

Commenter

Wet, wet, wet

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 5:48PM

Don't worry. Apparently Campbell is in charge of the armed forces now. As long as he can resist the urge to invade anyone in the next few weeks he should have all the manpower he needs.

Commenter

General Disinterest

Location

Awaiting Campbell's orders

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 8:16PM

@General Disinterest - seriously I don't think this the forum for your political views save them for other more related forums or the ballot box.Keep up the good work all involved in dealing with the events of today, tomorrow etc. Greatly appreciated by most.

Commenter

chrisk

Location

The Gap

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 8:35PM

Always willing to take instructions from self-appointed arbiters. Since Campbell's command of the armed forces is apparently not up for discussion, I guess I'll get back to my knitting.

Commenter

General Disinterest

Location

Saluting chrisk

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 9:26PM

Pigs, this is not h forum. Same premier was the one cutting emergency volunteer funding a few months ago. Same premier used to be mayor two years ago and left it all to chase his ambitions.

Commenter

David

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 9:32PM

Its a blog about Brisbanes Big Wet, keeping you up to date with events, warnings etc, not your or my political views. Yep, better do your knitting rather than be one of the people working to assist while you and I debate the ridiculous. Last you will hear from me on this discussion. i may well agree with you or not but Time and place..

Commenter

chrisk

Location

The Gap

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 9:55PM

And the small man was on TV just a couple of hours ago trying to make political mileage out of 'being on record in 2011...and I thought that what should have happened back then was....yada yada'. Weasel words.

Commenter

Desperately Seeking Newman

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 9:57PM

Still completely ignoring my point, chrisk. If we were debating then surely you would address the issue of who commands our armed forces, rather than concerning yourself with talking points that have nothing to do with either of my posts.

Commenter

General Disinterest

Location

Knitting for rescue personnel

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 10:21PM

the keith urban concert has been postponed until tomorrow night, tickets will be valid for hat show.

Commenter

Grant Hore

Location

scarborough

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 5:14PM

I always thought as an Aussie these things are called a Cockedbob. I do not w..k Yank terminology used in Australia. Nought is nought, not zero, another w..k Yank terminology.

Commenter

observationer

Location

Inglewood Qld

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 4:46PM

The word 'zero' preceded 'nought'. 'Zero' in no way originated in America.

Commenter

Low-Key Liesmith

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 8:29PM

Cockedbob? You just made that up, didn't you?

Commenter

Kev

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 8:41PM

Previously the article said that there were warnings about storm surge at Wynnum, but that now seems to have disappeared - any update? Thanks from Wynnum

Commenter

Joanna

Location

Wynnum

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 4:16PM

We'll see what we can find out for you.

Commenter

Cameron Atfield, homepage editor

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 4:20PM

Thanks for Keith Urban, but what we really want to know is tonight's concert? On Off.

Commenter

mojo

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

January 27, 2013, 2:17PM

Keith's still scheduled to perform at 7.30pm, but allow plenty of time to get to the venue safely!